One of functions of a delivery server delivering firmware or application of an image forming apparatus is to upgrade the firmware of the image forming apparatus from a remote position. Until now, upgrading the firmware from a remote position has been performed in the following manner. When the application of the image forming apparatus issues instructions for delivery to the delivery server, information about the firmware is transmitted to the delivery server and then the delivery server delivers a latest firmware to the image forming apparatus (refer to Japanese Patent Application No. 2003-5991).
In a technique discussed in Japanese Patent Application No. 2003-5991, however, a serviceman needs to visit a customer to perform an operation for accessing the delivery server from the image forming apparatus . This causes a problem in that the cost for updating the firmware is increased.
In order to update the firmware without the serviceman visiting the customer, a function is required in which a monitoring center host computer of the image forming apparatus collaborates with the delivery server to deliver the firmware to the image forming apparatus which monitors the monitoring center host computer. When this function is used, the image forming apparatus to which the firmware is delivered is retrieved on a Web screen of the monitoring center host computer and information about the image forming apparatus is transmitted as a retrieval result to the delivery server. If the programs in the delivery server and the monitoring center host computer are not separated, a following problem occurs. Even if a very small correction of these programs occurs, the programs for the entire system need to be tested, which increases time required for testing the programs and reduces availability of the system. For this reason, the programs in the delivery server and the monitoring center host computer are separated in most cases.
However, since the monitoring center host computer and the delivery server are separate systems, a user's burden of operation may increase in acquiring retrieval results from the monitoring center host computer and providing it to the delivery server. Furthermore, data needs to be transmitted through a network in which security is uncertain, so that security probably cannot be ensured for the transmission of data through the network.